Water Damage Restoration in Keego Harbor, MI

A conservation group fighting to save a century-old former elementary school in Keego Harbor from demolition said the West Bloomfield school board "rubber stamped" a plan to demolish the school without considering other options or making those options public.

Making the group's case to a three-judge panel of the Michigan Court of Appeals during oral arguments on Wednesday, Derek Howard, an attorney for Heart of the Lakes, accused the West Bloomfield School District of violating the Open Meetings Act when it did not publicly deliberate on all options for Roosevelt Elementary School on Cass Lake Road and only considered demolition.

"(Demolition) was the only option (presented at the school board meeting) because the other options were considered privately in a non-public setting," Howard said. "We still to this day don't know what those other options were."

But the district's attorney Lindsay Hazen said the district did not violate the Open Meetings Act and noted that Heart of the Lakes filed its lawsuit too late for the court be able to stop the demolition if it rules in the nonprofit's favor. She said at best, the nonprofit is entitled to fees and costs, but the court cannot invalidate the demolition decision.

"The Board of Education's decision to demolish Roosevelt cannot be undone at this point," Hazen said. "The appellants haven't identified anything we've done in secret. ... At most here we have a group of individuals who were unhappy with a decision the board made."

Wednesday's hearing marks the latest legal twist for the former school. Opened in 1920, the 70,000-square-foot school is an anchor for the 2,700-resident Oakland County community of Keego Harbor, supporters have said. The school was closed in 2022 and its students were moved to another building in West Bloomfield schools.

The district voted in September 2023 to demolish the school building, saying it was unsafe for students, financially irresponsible to maintain on the taxpayers' dime and a potential threat in the competition for future students.

But Heart of the Lakes, a nonprofit land conservation group, sought an emergency court order in March 2024 to stop the district from demolishing it. The school board voted to demolish the school just before the lawsuit was filed.

The Court of Appeals issued an order in April keeping the demolition on hold.

The three judge panel on Wednesday — made up of Kristina Robinson Garrett, Adrienne Young and Randy Wallace — had few questions for the attorneys for Heart of the Lakes or the West Bloomfield School District's attorneys.

Howard, who appealed Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Phyllis McMillen's ruling in the district's favor, said the district violated the Open Meetings Act when it did not publicly deliberate on all options for Roosevelt Elementary School and only considered demolition.

Howard argued that McMillen seemed to want to protect elected officials and assume they acted transparently, even though he alleged the evidence showed otherwise. He said the district's story on when demolition was finalized and why it was the only option has changed repeatedly.

"(The district) made a decision and the board rubber stamped it," Howard said.

The lawsuit alleges the school district violated the Open Meetings Act by conducting "secret" deliberations outside the public view in a "concerted effort" to destroy the school, which some parents, historians and elected officials have banded together to save for reuse. It also alleges the school board did not discuss or deliberate on the bids during the board meeting.

The district had planned to begin preparing the property for demolition in April 2024 and had scheduled demolition for June. The approved bid for abatement came in at $93,000 and for demolition at $465,000, totaling $558,000.

Hazen said a work group used its expertise to confirm the validity of the bids, and that the companies would be able to complete the job. The work group is not a public body, so its deliberations and decision making does not need to comply with the Open Meetings Act, she said.

The land was appraised for $1.2 million. Minus the asbestos abatement and demolition cost, the district would profit about $650,000 if it sold the land, according to a district report.

Community members, including district parents and historians, have rallied for months to save the sprawling three-story building and surrounding park land as part of a larger debate on how Michigan's supply of historic school buildings can or should be repurposed as enrollment drops or districts' needs change.

The district has expressed frustration at the length of time the appeal was taking in a response filed arguing against Heart of the Lakes' request for more time filed in August, noting it had to pay more than $4,700 monthly for maintaining the building.

The Court of Appeals will issue its ruling on the matter at a later date.

kberg@detroitnews.com

Keego Harbor 15-year-old with degenerative muscle disease had his Make-A-Wish come true, thanks to Slim Shady.

The Detroit News

Stanley Sekulich started 10th grade at West Bloomfield High School on Monday, but the Keego Harbor teen had a pretty good excuse for missing the first day of classes: He was meeting Eminem, a dream encounter set up via his request through the Make-A-Wish foundation.

Sekulich was 6 years old when he was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a severe form of MD that causes progressive degeneration of the body's muscles. Now 15, Stanley has been using a wheelchair full-time since he was 12.

For the most part, "he's a pretty normal kid," said his father, Jeff Sekulich. Stanley maintains a 3.5 grade-point average, he spends a lot of time watching "Transformers" and "Fast and Furious" movies and scrolling through TikTok, and he loves playing video games. He has a PS5 and several generations of Xbox systems, along with a gaming computer in the upstairs playroom of the home where he lives with his father.

He also loves rap music, especially the output of hometown hero Eminem.

Monday's meet-up, which took place in downtown Detroit at Mom's Spaghetti, Eminem's restaurant, store and memorabilia space inside Union Assembly along Woodward Avenue, was a dream come true for Stanley.

"It was a really cool and once-in-a-lifetime experience," Stanley said in a statement to The Detroit News. "I am thankful for everyone who was able to make it happen, especially Eminem and Make-A-Wish."

And while he's named after the NHL's top prize — his mother was pregnant with him when the Red Wings won the Stanley Cup in 2008 — it's not lost on anyone that he shares a name with Eminem's most famous (albeit fictional) fan, Stan.

"Stan," released in 2000, is a deranged tale of fandom and stalking, and the name Stan has become synonymous with obsessive fandom in the modern superstar era. But the story of Stanley's meet-up with Eminem helps put an alternate spin on the "Stan" legend.

A chilling diagnosis

Stanley's first symptoms of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, or DMD, showed up in kindergarten, when he was flagged by his gym teacher, who thought Stanley's irregular movement might be due to a hip problem. His parents took him to see a hip specialist, "and we were scared as hell," said his father, Jeff, 53.

The issue wasn't his hips. It was linked to a rare genetic disorder that affects one in about every 5,000 male births. DMD causes muscles to break down and become replaced by fatty tissue, which in turn causes mobility issues and other muscular problems.

Stanley was diagnosed with DMD on Dec. 5, 2015. It's a day Jeff will never forget, and it began years of meetings and consultations with doctors, specialists and experts. Stanley and his father began taking trips to Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, leaving the house at 5 a.m., staying for testing all day and making the 3 1/2-hour trip home at night, all in time for Stanley to go to school the following morning. In 2017, Stanley underwent a seven-hour gene transfer operation.

Meanwhile, the family's expenses have skyrocketed, both for Stanley's medications and treatments and to retrofit the family home to become wheelchair accessible, including installing a wheelchair lift so Stanley can get up and down the stairs.

The stress of everything took a toll on Jeff's marriage; he and his wife divorced in 2019, and Jeff was given full-time custody of Stanley. That same year, Jeff hired an assistant, Marina Mahmud, who has been helping out with Stanley's caretaking duties ever since. Stanley's uncle Mark, Jeff's brother, started a GoFundMe for Stanley in 2021, raising $8,000 to help with various medical costs.

Stanley's spirits are high, and Jeff said he always has friends coming over to the house. "There are limitations that he has, but he has very good friends," said Jeff, who grew up in Dearborn Heights and now owns a construction company. "Even though he can't play basketball, he can be a referee."

And while Stanley grew up loving to swim, it has become too difficult for him in recent years, and he no longer has the muscle strength to support himself in the water.

There is no known cure for DMD, and patients don't typically live beyond their early 30s. Even so, Jeff — who describes himself as a "glass half full" kind of guy — said he continues to hold out hope for a new study or a new medicine to come along and help save his son.

A wish come true

Two years ago, Stanley submitted a Make-A-Wish request through the foundation's southeast Michigan office. The nonprofit, founded in 1980, seeks to grant the wishes of children with terminal illnesses, pairing them with dream scenarios that include meetings with celebrities and other fantasy fulfillments.

Stanley's wish was to meet Eminem, the Detroit rapper of whom he's always been a huge fan, thanks partly to his father turning him onto rap music at an early age. (His backup wish — just in case — was a meet-up with four-time NBA champion Shaquille O'Neal.) Stanley and his family waited patiently for word that he'd be able to get together with the elusive rap superstar, who keeps as low a profile as any modern mega-celebrity. But Stanley always had a feeling it would happen.

There were Zoom calls with Stanley's local wish coordinator and a few stops and starts along the way. The green light go-ahead finally came earlier this month, Monday's date was agreed upon, and things were set in motion.

When he got word, "I had to read the text a couple times over to make sure it was really happening," Jeff said.

Stanley's reaction was a mix of excitement and nervousness. How would he act around Eminem? What would he say to him? He thought hard and finally came up with what he figured would be a worthwhile question: "What made you want to become a rapper?"

An itinerary came over on Sunday, and on Monday, a bus was dispatched to the Sekulich house to pick up Stanley, his father, Mahmud, and Stanley's friend, Aiden Navarro. They boarded the bus and headed downtown. Along the way, the bus picked up three other children and their families, in from out of town, who were also having wishes granted that same day to meet Eminem.

'A once in a lifetime experience'

The first stop was Saint Andrew's Hall, where the group was given a private tour of the concert facility, where Eminem performed in rap battles in the downstairs performance space, the Shelter, during the early, pre-fame stages of his career.

Then they were off to Mom's Spaghetti, where they were given a tour of the kitchen, the secret to Mom's Spaghetti's special sauce, and their choice of candy items from the small space's bodega-like store shelves, where Stanley grabbed some Sour Patch Kids, some ICEE candy and a couple of lollipops.

Upstairs in the Trailer, the Eminem merchandise shop housed within Union Assembly, the group was given a tour of the Eminem items on display and were given their choice of merchandise, free of charge, and Stanley grabbed a black Mom's Spaghetti-branded hoodie with blue detailing, and a T-shirt with the Mom's Spaghetti menu on the back. (Stanley's name also appeared on the video wall inside the Trailer, a personal highlight for him.)

They were then taken to a space where they waited to meet the man himself, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame MC who has sold more than 50 million albums in the United States.

After a few minutes, Stanley was whisked off to a private room where he was able to meet with and talk to Eminem behind closed doors for around 15 minutes.

From outside the room, Mahmud said she could hear Stanley loudly laughing while chatting with the rapper. Stanley told Eminem — who dressed in a black tracksuit, a Detroit Tigers cap, white Nike Air Max sneakers and a T-shirt of old-school rap clique Main Source — that N.W.A. was his favorite group but that Eminem was his favorite rapper. They discussed hip-hop, hardships and Detroit sports. Stanley was so caught up in the moment that he forgot to ask his question.

As happy as Stanley was, Mahmud was just as pleased for him.

"Fifteen minutes alone with Eminem was more than what I could have ever even dreamed of for Stanley," she said.

Eventually, the rest of the group was allowed in the room as well, and they were given several minutes to chat with Eminem, along with Em's manager, Paul Rosenberg, and other members of Eminem's team.

Wish granted, Stanley and his family reboarded the bus and headed home. Mahmud posted a picture of the meet-up on X and received an "incredible" response from fans, she said, gaining nearly 5,000 likes from Eminem fans around the world, who were especially tickled to learn about this different take on the "Stan" story.

Stanley went to school on Tuesday and word was out about his encounter with Em, "and it was definitely one of those ice breaker fun facts about himself, no doubt," Jeff said.

Jeff said it was an unbelievable day and something his son will never forget. And he was hugely thankful to Make-A-Wish and to Eminem and his team for making Stanley's wish come true.

"The volunteers, everybody that was able to make it happen, we're just so thankful," Jeff said. "And Marshall was a class act all the way."

agraham@detroitnews.com